AUTOMATIC LICENSE PLATE READER USED BY QUEBEC PROVINCIAL POLICE

Montreal, Canada, January 31, 2012 – gtechna, a leading software developer of Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) and Electronic Citations systems announced today the deployment of 100 ALPR equipped patrol vehicles for the Quebec Provincial Police, Quebec’s largest police agency (also know as The Sûreté du Québec, SQ). This sets a precedent as the largest ALPR fleet in North America ever to be launched at once as a road safety initiative.

The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) covers 107 000 km of road, one of the largest jurisdictions in Canada and, Québec’s highways are among the most heavily traveled in the country. Since driver’s licenses in Quebec do not have any visible encoding to confirm that the registration is paid or that the owner has a valid driver’s license, the SQ felt that ALPR and reader technology could be used to search for suspect plates. The result could be significant in reducing injuries and accidents, since 17% of road fatalities involve drivers with invalid driver’s licenses.

In order to meet road safety objectives, the Sûreté du Québec required a system that could manage a high volume of vehicles covering a large territory, and produce reliable results across multiple lanes of traffic. Therefore, with these objectives in mind, gtechna’s Officer™ Plates ALPR Solution underwent a battery of rigorous performance qualification tests to meet Sûreté du Québec Road Safety Enforcement Standards.

“In identical conditions, the vendor systems underwent normalized technical performance tests in 3 strategic locations by day and night”, states Sergio Mastronardi, Chief Technology Officer with gtechna. “The ability of gtechna’s Officer™ Plates ALPR Solution to effectively verify several thousand plates per day is likely to significantly increase the perceived risk of being intercepted, which is a major element in road safety.”

“The entire gtechna team is very enthusiastic about our partnership with the Sûreté du Québec”, commented Michel Guay, gtechna President and CEO. “Installation will take place both at gtechna’s new state-of-the-art installation facility and in SQ garages. We are honoured that the Sûreté du Québec selected gtechna’s Officer™ Plates Solution and ELSAG Cameras as the ALPR system of choice to play an integral role in ensuring that Québec highways remain safe and secure.”

How the Officer™ Plates ALPR Solution Works

The principle behind Automated License Plate Recognition is very simple. It is a

fully autonomous reader system which is installed in a patrol vehicle equipped with:

1. Cameras that reads all plates within an established perimeter, parked or in motion, at high speeds. The system requires no manipulation by a police officer.

2. Officer™ Plates Software (running on a ruggedized laptop) analyzes each plate by comparing it to a motor vehicle database containing the list of suspect plates.

3. If the plate has been identified with an infraction, Officer™ Plates sounds an alert accompanied by a photo of the suspect vehicle. All these phases are carried out in 0.5 seconds and are fully automated.

If required, gtechna’s integrated Electronic Citations module can quickly and accurately tie all of this information to the ticket and infraction report.